This op-ed by U.S. Senator Rick Santorum at Catholic Online may be the most noxious piece of crap you'll read all week.
Like most American Catholics, I have followed the recent sex scandals in the Church with profound sympathy for victims, revulsion over priests who prey on minors and frustration at the absence of hierarchical leadership.
...
It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning "private" moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.
I'm tempted to respond with a snarky "what about all that personal responsibility you conservatives are always going on about?" Santorum wants to take the heat off the individual priests who used their position of authority to abuse children and off the officials in the church hierarchy who covered up the abuses. Instead he wants to blame Massachusetts liberals who apparently are capable of some kind of arcane, all-powerful mind control that can cause even the most devout and pure to act contrary to their natures.
That snarky response really isn't fair. Instead allow me to suggest that what Santorum is practicing here has nothing to do with conservatism. This is just blatant pandering to Karl Rove's base combined with good old fashioned liberal bashing. It's the same kind of rhetoric that sees any kind of criticism of the invasion of Iraq or of Bush's conduct in the War on Terror™ as either treason or cowardice.
So here's my commitment to all you conservatives out there: I will henceforth make every effort to stop referring to the current leadership of the GOP and to their agenda as "conservative." Instead I'll call people like Santorum what they really are: liars, thieves and propagandists who will justify any action and any smear in pursuit of the concentration of profit and power in the hands of the few at the expense of everyone else. Demagogues of the worst kind.
And now I think I need a shower.
Almost forgot. Hat-tip to babble.
Amazing stuff. How do people like this sleep at night?
Gotta love gool ol' Sen. Frothy Mixture. He's so full of shit, he leaks.
Some more:
What a jackass. Sen. FM could have condemned the unnatural sexual requirements of the Catholic church and held anachronistic values and unrealistic expectations up to the light of reason. Instead, he blames the culture of tolerance and compassion that people with, you know, brains and stuff, encourage.
Those Sen. FM are condemning are the ones who would be the first to suggest that celibacy and condemnation of masturbation are the truly unnatural and dangerous sexual choices. That's why Catholic priests are the ones with their dicks caught in choiseboys and homosexuals are the ones trying to get married and form legal, committed family relationships.
I'd love to tell him to fuck himself, but he won't, becuase that would be a sin.
If anything, that's probably too generous a line to take.
Remember that the right-wing echo chamber in the U.S. has spent the last 30 years turning "liberal" into a dirty word. Why should we generously give conservatism the benefit of the doubt when people who profess to stand for it are acting like Santorum?
If conservatism can be so easily differentiated from the actions of the U.S. administration, then let the true conservatives win their title by throwing Bushco overboard. Until then, they're all in the same boat - and we shouldn't hesitate to point that out.
I just finished congratulating one conservative voice in the American midwest that I usually disagree with (respectfully) on most issues, but who has taken an admirable stand against the duplicity of the Catholic church on this issue.
The US right is by no means a monolithic group. There are divisions and fractures, disagreement and rancor just as there is on the left.
Take a look at Pew Global Research studies for how they've attempted to explain the segmented-ness of the supposed 'bloc' that voted Bush in the for the second time.
From disaffected 20-30 year olds to socially conservative democrats, Bush voters and the American right in general is frequently misunderestimated by the left.
Is there ANYTHING that could happen in the US that the Republicans wouldn't try to blame on Clinton? Hurricane Dennis, maybe?
They really are pathetic, and they're giving all conservatives a bad name.
re: calling 'em: "liars thieves and propagandists" instead of "conservatives."
some would bemoan the degenerating tone of the debate, ... those sorts generally play "liberal" foils to egomaniacal blowhards on Faux-News.
But i see no other course. They have brought this on themselves.
And, whatever their individual personal qualities, any group of people that votes for an obvious atrocity like bush II deserves to be 'misunderestimated.'
You're right. That was the worst peice of crap I've read all week. Thanks.
You're welcome.